TEHRAN (Dispatches) – Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani on Monday denounced the U.S. as the root cause of insecurity in the region, saying the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq would strengthen stability in the Arab country.
Shamkhani told his Iraqi counterpart Qasim Muhammad Jalal al-Araji here that the U.S. is also the sponsor of organized terrorism in the region.
The official stressed the need for the implementation of Iraq’s parliamentary bill on the expulsion of U.S. forces from the Arab country.
He said one of the main priorities in security cooperation between Iran and Iraq is to prosecute and punish those who ordered and perpetrated the assassination of top commanders General Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad in January 2020.
The government of Iraq is expected to take more serious action against the terrorist crime, considering that it was hosting the senior Iranian general, he said.
Shamkhani further expressed concern over the resurgence of Daesh elements in Iraq, saying there is reliable evidence showing that the U.S. is supporting takfiri terrorists and deploying them to various regions across Iraq with the purpose of fomenting insecurity in order to extent its presence in the region.
For his part, the Iraqi adviser hailed Iran’s strategic role in ensuring regional stability and security and fighting terrorism, calling for closer cooperation with Tehran in various fields.
Araji confirmed that the U.S. is in contact with Daesh in Iraq, saying classifying  terrorists into good and bad and employing double standards in the war on terrorism would only strengthen the criminal role of terrorist currents.
The Iraqi national security adviser has visited Iran at the invitation of Shamkhani for talks on bilateral, regional and international issues.